Transformation 2017

Here's a new oils post, something I haven't published for a while, I know! Although I continue to use oils with great success, I've been frustrated by my oils business, or lack thereof. I've watched people who started around the same time as I catapult themselves into the upper echelon of the company while I plod along, pretty much the same every month. All my businesses seem to be proceeding long those terms, and lately I've been really frustrated and and have been feeling pretty sorry for myself.

Of course, feeling sorry for yourself never fixes anything, so this year I have been determined to take action. I plan to transform my routine to make myself more successful. I'm lucky to have great coaches and examples on Instagram and Facebook. There are tons of people who selflessly post their own practises in order to lead others by example, and I've been studying them closely. Then a couple days ago Young Living featured their Transformation oil blend. I missed this one, somehow, but I think it's perfect for me right now! It's a pricey oil, but I had the oils to make it, either singly or contained in blends. It would be way cheaper to just buy Transformation than to purchase all the oils I'm using here, but if you already have a big oils collection you can try a copycat blend with no extra expense.

The oils in my Transformation blend

I used the oils above in decreasing order from left to right. I mixed 10 drops each Lemon, Peppermint, Dream Catcher, and Clary Sage; 8 drops each Sacred Frankincense, Idaho Blue Spruce, and Field; and 5 drops each Ocotea and Palo Santo. Once you've added all the oils, cap the bottle and roll it in between your hands to blend. The heat from your hands helps the oils mix together. That's a tip from Gary Young himself!

Today I'm wearing my copycat Transformation and running it in the diffusers. I didn't like the smell at first, but the more I smell it the better I like it. It's hard to describe: it's kind of soft and muted but sort of spicy at the same time. Some people in my oils group claim the worse an oil smells to you the more your body probably needs it. That makes no sense to me, but evidently that was the result of a study. I have experienced the bad-to-good transformation with oils often. I hated Joy at first. It gave me a headache when I first started oils, but now it's one of my favorites. So maybe once I started using it my body had a need filled and now I like it; I don't know. I am hoping the Transformation oil helps me make the changes I need to be successful.

Hair thickener

I've already made several changes to my routine over the past couple weeks, the beginning of my transformation. For one thing, my health and fitness group got back together on the 2nd. Every year I focus on losing weight and usually I lose some and then my progress slows down until it stops and I start re-gaining. I push myself hard and often end up injured and starving but still fat. This year I decided to make small changes and focus on transforming my total life, just not my weight. I've been watching calories and trying macros, but I am not exercising with the same fervor as usual. Instead I have been just trying to hit my step count each day and fit in just three extra "workouts" each week, by which I mean structured activity just to get exercise, like doing Pilates and yoga. Then I've been going to bed earlier and trying to get as close to nine hours of sleep each night as possible. I have to supplement with a nap almost every day but I have been working on the earlier bedtime little by little. The earlier bedtime keeps my calories down because night time is my worst time for hunger and snacking and wine drinking.

Although it's not my focus, I have lost almost 5 pounds in the past two weeks. I've already seen that reflected in my hair, unfortunately. It's looking really thin. I haven't been sticking to my hair oils routine at all, so today I made myself get it done. I don't know why I haven't done it; it's really extremely easy. You just add Cedarwood, Rosemary (or Melrose in my case), Thyme, and if you want, Lavender, to your shampoo, mix it up, and wash your hair as usual. If you want even more growth you can mix these oils with Jojoba oil and massage it into your hair. Leave it on for a couple hours or overnight and then wash it out. We see visible results using these oils starting within one week. It's amazing! Here's a post with unbelievable before and after photos of my husband's hair. If you want to find out how oils have changed everything for my family (and that is NOT an exaggeration) please email me at ateliermandaline@gmail.com. If you want to buy a kit and have me 24/7 to answer questions and brainstorm ideas and teach you what I've learned, order here, using 2256091 as your Sponsor number.

A big order of Silhouette supplies

My friend and fitness coach, who also is a rock star oils seller, and who has recently been blowing other Etsy sellers out of the water with the creations she makes on her Silhouette Cameo machine, inspired me to want a machine too. The design implications of these machines are incredible. You can create diecuts, print and cut, etch glass and metal, create custom stamps, the list just goes on and on. My husband very kindly gave me one for Christmas and once all our guests left and my son recovered from his surgery I began to play around with it.


Unfortunately I got off to a rocky start with mine and messed up a bunch of expensive heat transfer material because my ideas were overly ambitious for my skill level on the machine... the story of my life! Now, however, I am finally getting my sea legs and have been able to create designs that work with the machine's capabilities. I've been just making stuff for my kids so far, but I have a ton of decals waiting for creation and a bunch more in my brain. As most of you know, we adopted our younger children, who both had special needs at the time we got them, so my kids' designs have highlighted their special status. You can expect many more adoption and special needs themed kids' designs to hit my shops soon. I finally felt confident enough to order a huge box of supplies for my Silhouette.

My Unique decal

My daughter wearing her shirt

I created my "Unique" design for all girls, but especially for those who might have or have overcome special needs or disability. I have a similar, more unisex, design in the works so more boys might wear them.

My adoption themed decal

My son wearing his shirt

My "Chosen Child" decal is especially for those children who were adopted. I am a biological mother as well as an adoptive mother, and I can tell you, there is no difference in how much I love any of my kids. As far as I'm concerned they were all meant for me. It's no lie, though, the effort that went into finding and getting my adopted kids was far beyond pregnancy, even though I had a rather difficult pregnancy and delivery. I can tell you about the months and years of searching, waiting, hoping, praying, and crying, and then the months and years of love and therapy and sleeplessness and the sheer amount time and work it takes to help a child recover from trauma and malnutrition, but you can't really understand. Not until you experience it do you truly realize the magnitude of the choice to adopt. I'm not sure even the kids understand how much they were longed for and loved, but I tried to make some shirts to help parents tell them! I would do it again, too, even knowing all too well how difficult it can be; I would do it a thousand times. All these designs are on the way to my Etsy shop and probably to eBay and Poshmark as well, so please look for them.

Some of the clothes for sale in my eBay store

Speaking of eBay, I have seen other sellers posting their numbers and methods on Instagram and their sales are the stuff of dreams for me. A couple of the people I follow are selling over $15,000 in 60 days. Even one lady who was complaining about how she let her business "fall off" due to depression is selling about three times my sales. I've been noticing the main thing these sellers are doing that I am not is listing more new stuff each day. I don't have a ton of room for inventory so I worry about getting stuck with a bunch of stuff, but for the past couple weeks I've been listing new items daily whenever I can and I have noticed an uptick in sales. As part of my Transformation 2017, look for new stuff coming to all my shops a lot more frequently. For those of you who read this blog I have a few special offers: use the coupon code BLOGGER for 10% any order from my Etsy shop. Through June 1st use this special link to shop an exclusive sale on eBay and save 30% off purchases of $40 or more. The eBay offer is not open to the public, only to those who have this link.

I wrote a little about this last year but haven't gotten started on it, but coming soon look for the new ateliermandaline.com web site. It is not live yet, but I have to create one because, between the oils and the dolls and the handmade stuff and the kids' clothes, trying to keep all these shops and Facebook pages and the blog up to date is driving me crazy! My hope and plan for my web site is that it will be a central hub with links to all my pages and eventually a shop in its own right. As soon as it is set up you can bet I will let you know!

Please try Transformation or my copycat and tell me how it's helping you meet your goals for the new year. Here's to a stunning 2017! May it bring all you've been wanting to your life.